Response Order Effects - How Do People Read?

Abstract

This paper outlines the results from an experiment examining response order effects with visually presented lists. In particular it examines the implications of the practical response adopted by most market research agencies - to use normal and reversed show cards. The conclusion is that for most questions the effect is likely to be present, but relatively small, and dependent on the extent of context effects. That is, it appears more important to ensure that the most likely responses are not grouped at either end of the show list. The study also identified that a quarter of respondents do not actually read the lists they are presented with in interviews from top to bottom, and significant minorities ‘jump around’ lists looking for eye-catching words or phrases. This clearly has implications for interpreting ‘primacy’ effects and for the design and physical appearance of lists.